Stella by Starlight By Sharon M Draper-pdfread.net

wearin’ the bedsheets off their clotheslines again.”
“Look, I’m not lookin’ for trouble. I just think I ought to be able to
vote,” her father said evenly.
“What for?” Mr. Bates asked, coming up to the porch, taking his time
as he climbed with his crutch. He’d contracted polio a few years back—
the only person in town who had, as far as Stella knew. She scooted to the
far side of the steps to give him room and began rubbing each of her
toenails clean with a little bit of spit, hoping she’d stay unnoticed.
“Won’t make no difference nohow. Won’t put a nickel in your pocket
or a biscuit on your table,” Spoon Man argued reasonably.
“It would to me,” her father replied stubbornly. “I live in this country
and I ain’t no slave, and dagummit, I oughta be allowed to vote!”
Dr. Hawkins swirled his tea around and gazed into the bronze liquid.
“Jonah, I’ve looked into this. You know they’ve gone and set up these poll
taxes.”
“I know.”
“And a literacy test about the Constitution you gotta pass.”
Stella’s father set his jaw. “I know all that.”
“Get ready for questions like, ‘How many bubbles in a bar of soap?’ or
‘How many wrinkles in an elephant’s trunk?’ ” Spoon Man said.
Stella noticed that not one of the men even smiled. This was dead
serious.
“And the KKK? They get a report of any colored person who tries to
register to vote. You want that hammer hangin’ over your family?” Mr.
Bates’s face went angry. “You already got them burning crosses practically
in your backyard!”
Her father looked to the distance, out across the pond. “Sometimes I
just get tired of bowin’ down and givin’ up, you know?”
It was Dr. Hawkins who nodded in agreement. He placed a hand on
Papa’s broad shoulder, but then he added, “You know, Jonah, sometimes
it’s best to wait till times get better.”
“And when will that be?”
Stella hunkered over her toes. She knew none of them had an answer.